The fight against creeping desertification

Arid Namibia is locked in a battle on two fronts: to provide sustainable livelihoods for its rural population, while holding back desertification. Water is scarce throughout the country. The central plateau and limited grasslands to the north, where half the population lives, are sandwiched between the Namib desert, stretching 1,400 km along the Atlantic coast, and the Kalahari to the southeast. A statement marking the tenth anniversary of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) on 17 June, warned the international community that the global breadth of drought and soil degradation cannot be ignored. "Arable land per person is shrinking throughout the world, threatening food security, particularly in poor rural areas, and triggering humanitarian and economic crises," said the UNCCD. "Forced to take as much as they can from the land for food, energy, housing and income, the poor are both the causes and the victims of desertification. In reverse, desertification is both a cause and a consequence of poverty." Desertification occurs slowly as areas of degraded land spread and merge together, rather than through advancing desert. It is comparable to a slowly but clearly progressing "skin disease", according to UNCCD. In Namibia there is simply not enough arable land to sustain its 1.8 million people, two million livestock, and current levels of agricultural production. Bertus Kruger, project manager of the Desert Research Foundation in Namibia, said planting trees and other traditional methods of combating land degradation were all good ideas, but in the final analysis, more Namibians needed to look for livelihoods outside agriculture. "Lack of alternative income-generating opportunities is a major obstacle. The only way to do this is to provide good incentives for other income-generating activities, such as SMEs [small- and medium-scale enterprises]. If there are attractive incentives, many will stop farming and embrace the new opportunities." Namibia's cattle population is beyond the carrying capacity of the land. "We are not only concerned about overgrazing, but also about the large numbers of cattle that are destroying the environment," principal technician in the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Rural Development, Ruben Ngenda, told IRIN. But with livestock traditionally viewed as an indication of status, rural Namibians are loath to reduce their herds. "We have seen crises during drought situations whereby farmers lost large numbers of livestock due to lack of grazing and water, but they are still failing to heed the call," said Ngenda. Sustainable agricultural practices rely on community participation, but that cooperation is undermined by poverty and underdevelopment. The lack of rural electrification, for example, has meant that many people still rely on wood as fuel for cooking and keeping themselves warm during the winter months, so trees are chopped down, further degrading the environment. "Our efforts will not make an impact if people do not take ownership of the resources. Communities have to be in the driver's seat," said Kruger. He suggested that the absence of secure tenure rights on land in the communal areas had contributed to the failure of communities to maintain grazing pastures and invest in resources like irrigation systems. Water scarcity is a perennial problem, exacerbated by unstable rainfall patterns. Rationing is commonplace, especially in the summer months, when town councils usually implement restrictions on watering gardens and washing cars with a hose, and urge people to shower or use less water for bathing. The country depends mostly on its underground aquifers during severe droughts, and the use of reclaimed water. According to a water engineer in Windhoek Municipality, Ammo Peters, Namibia is the only country in Africa, if not in the whole world, that purifies water directly from sewerage waste. In the past few years Namibia has opened negotiations with its neighbours, Botswana and South Africa, to be allowed to tap water from the Zambezi and Orange rivers, but until an agreement is reached, the country is forced to more effectively exploit what water resources it has. "Aquifers are a sustainable source of water and we need to recharge them regularly to ensure that the water table does not go down to unacceptable levels," said Peters. Rainwater accumulated in dams will in future be injected into aquifers, so as to overcome the problem of evaporation, which robs Namibia of almost as much water as it receives each year. Experts from Egypt, Spain and South Africa are working with the government on a three-year research programme into storing water in aquifers, with the aim of benefiting local communities and improving the country's water management system.